The Nightmare Before Halloween
by the weepy donut
Summary: The Easter Bunny's back, and this time he wants to take over Jack's holiday...
1. A Perfect Halloween

WARNING/DISCLAIMER: All (or at least most) characters are created by Tim Burton and are copyright Disney/Touchstone Pictures/Tim Burton/Skellington Productions, so on and so forth.  Thank you.

Chapter One: A Perfect Halloween

Jack Skellington looked over the town.  Everything was going splendidly.  In less than 24 hours it would be Halloween.  There were a few minor details left, but otherwise Halloweentown was ready for the big night.  Amazing, he thought to himself, since they'd pulled it together in only ten months.  The other two had been spent making Christmas.  Not one of Jack's better ideas.  But after all the hectic preparations for their own holiday, the residents of Halloween seemed to have forgotten the incident—well, not all of them, but most.  Jack stepped out into the town square and was greeted enthusiastically by his subjects.

"Jack!" one of the witches yelled, motioning him over frantically.  The other stood over a bubbling cauldron, stirring slowly.  "We've concocted some of the most frightening nightmares yet!  Every mortal in the world is going to wake up screaming!"

He smiled.  "Wonderful!"  He walked over to the werewolf, who was standing nearby.  "Wolfgang, how's the howling going?"

"Great, Jack."  He threw back his head to practice some more.

Jack walked through the busy crowd, looking around and smiling some more.  Everything was going just as planned, just like last year, and the year before that…and he couldn't be happier about it.  His train of thought was interrupted by three small creatures smiling up at him eagerly.  This couldn't be good.

"So Jack," said Lock mischievously, "We were wondering if we could go trick-or-treating out in the real world tomorrow night."

Shock smiled innocently.  "We won't cause any trouble, will we, Barrel?"

Barrel looked confused.  He smiled and nodded, then Shock elbowed him in the ribs and he shook his head sadly.  "We won't Jack, we promise."

Jack frowned.  "I don't trust you three one inch, and you know that."

They giggled and nodded.

"I think it would be best—for everyone—if you just stayed around here tomorrow.  That way Mayor can keep an eye on you."

"But what if we went out with you Jack?"  Lock smiled up at the frightening figure.  "Then you could keep an eye on us, and we could help you scare everyone."

"I do not need any help, thank you."  Jack couldn't believe the little devil would even suggest such a thing.  "And there is no way you're leaving this town.  Oh, there's Mayor now."

The bumbling mayor of Halloweentown approached happily, humming.  He quickly frowned when he saw who Jack was talking to.  "Everything alright, Jack?"

Jack patted the nervous Mayor on the back.  "Not quite, my friend, I was wondering if you could help me with something…"

"If it involves those three, NO!"

Jack laughed.  "But Mayor, it's just for one night!  I need you to keep an eye on them for me tomorrow night, just while I'm out scaring.  Please?"

Mayor shook his head.  "You know how I feel about those three.  Can't you get someone else to do it?"

"Mayor, you're going to be the only figure of authority in town tomorrow night, so I'm handing the duty down to you."  He noticed the mayor turning an odd shade of blue so he quickly changed the subject.  "So, how's our pumpkin patch output this year?"

The Mayor was still frowning.  "Great, Jack.  Nearly doubled from last year."

"Splendid!  Now, you look like someone who could use some sleep, go back home and I'll see you bright and early in the morning."  He nudged the mayor along.

"Right…" He grumbled to himself as he walked off.  How did Jack always manage to do this to him?

Jack turned around and noticed the trio of trick-or-treaters was still grinning up at him.  "Same goes for you three.  Shoo!"  He waved a hand at them and they scattered.  Then he felt a hand on his shoulder.  Great.  What was it now?

"Here's your costume, Jack."  Sally smiled and handed his scarecrow costume to him.  "Better than new."

Jack smiled, relieved.  Just the person he wanted to see.  "Thank you, Sally."  He kissed her on top of the head as he took the costume.

The two of them had been practically inseparable since Christmas Eve.  Less than a month after that Sally had moved into Jack's house.  She put up a bit of a protest at first, fearing she would be taking advantage of his kindness, but he'd insisted and now they couldn't be happier.  They were very much in love, and Jack had every intention of proposing to her and making her his queen but the timing never seemed quite right.  Tomorrow, he thought, after I come home, then I'll ask her.

In the meantime Sally just enjoyed his company.  He was so sweet, such a gentleman.  She loved talking to him, he would always listen so intently to whatever she had to say.  And besides that, she thought, smiling to herself, he was a really good kisser.

"So…I think I'm going to head home now."  Sally smiled up at Jack.  "Coming?"

He sighed defeatedly.  "In a minute, love.  I've got a couple more things to do.  But I'll be there as soon as I can."  He kissed her, and she wrapped her arms around him as they parted.

"Oh Jack, I'm so happy.  I love you so much."

He smiled as he kissed her on the nose.  "I love you too, doll."

She waved back at him as she headed up to the mansion and he blew her a kiss.  She really was perfect.

Jack was completely happy.  He was the luckiest man in Halloweentown, he thought as he walked towards the graveyard.  The holiday had never looked so good, and he had the most spectacular woman to ever set foot in the town at his side.  He felt as though he was walking on a cloud, and he didn't even notice the enormous rabbit approaching him from behind…


	2. Jack's Disappearing Act

Chapter 2: Jack's Disappearing Act

            "What the—OOMPH."

            Jack was conked over the head with an enormous Easter egg.  The bunny laughed maniacally as he stuffed both the egg and Skellington into a large pastel sack, which he slung over his shoulder.  The bunny hopped away deep into the forest with the unconscious Pumpkin King.

            Sally sat on the couch in the parlor of the Skellington mansion, reading a book.  Zero was curled up by her feet, whining nervously.  She was also growing nervous.  It had been about an hour since she'd seen Jack…  How much work did he have to do, exactly?  Something just wasn't right, she could feel it.

            "Come on, boy, let's go find Jack."  She rose and Zero followed her out the door, down to the Town Hall, where she suspected her love might be.

            The Town Hall was also Mayor's home.  It was strange, really.  He'd always lived there, and he'd always been the Mayor, even though there was a formal election held each year.  Most years he was the only candidate, with the exception of last, in which he won in a landslide victory over Lock.

            Sally knocked on the door quietly.  If Jack wasn't there, Mayor might at least know where he was.  No answer.  She knocked a little louder, then heard a crash and a thud and Mayor opened up the door sleepily.

            "Huh?  What…oh, Sally.  Hello."  He smiled drowsily.  "What are you doing up so late?"

            "Actually I was looking for Jack.  I thought he might be here."

            Mayor's head spun around.  "No, he's not.  Didn't he come home?"

            Sally shook her head.  "He said he had a little more work to do and then he'd come home, but it's been over an hour now, Mayor.  Do you know where he might be?"

            He thought a moment.  "Well, he was going to go through the graveyard one last time, make sure everything was in order."

            Zero immediately took off in the direction and Sally followed him.  "Thank you," she yelled back to the Mayor.

            Zero put his pumpkin nose to the ground and began sniffing.  Sally looked around and called Jack's name, but to no avail.  It seemed he wasn't in the graveyard, either.

            Sally sat down on a stone bench and sighed.  Zero floated over to her and nudged her leg.  She smiled at him, but was growing ever more troubled.  This wasn't like Jack.  He wouldn't just leave like this…  Was it something she had done?  Or was he tired of Halloween again?  He wouldn't try to take over another holiday, would he?  No, of course not…

            Then she heard a bark.  Zero had gone off again and evidentially found something this time.  Sure enough, there on the ground next to the little ghost dog was Jack's bowtie.  Sally gasped.  There was something wrong, very wrong…

            KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

            "Ugh…  Not again…"  Mayor rose from his bed once again to answer the door as the knocks became more frantic.

            It was Sally again, but this time she was panicked and out of breath.  "Mayor…Jack is…"

            "Calm down, Sally!" cried the Mayor, becoming less and less calm himself.  "Jack is what?"

            "Gone," she said with a heavy sigh, holding his tie in her small rag doll hands.  "We can't find him anywhere."

            "GAH!" Mayor shrieked.  "This is terrible!  Absolutely horrible!  What are we going to do?!  Tomorrow's Halloween!"

            Sally was getting frustrated with the little man.  "Shh!  You're going to wake everyone up, and we don't want to get them all upset."

            "Upset about what?"

            She turned around and noticed that a good three-fourths of the town was standing behind her.  Too late.  Maybe she could try to calmly explain that-

            "Jack is gone!" cried Mayor.

            The crowd gasped and soon became abuzz.

            "What are we going to do?"

            "Remember the last time this happened?"

            "Form a search party!"

            "Someone, sound the alarms!"

            Sally tried talk to them, but it was useless.  Then she noticed that Mayor's car was nearby.  She ran over to it and picked up the megaphone, which sparked and hissed a bit, getting everyone's attention.

            "Can everyone hear me?"

            The crowd nodded.

            "Good.  Now don't panic, everything's going to be okay.  We just need to go about this rationally.  When was the last time anyone saw Jack?"

            The crowd yelled out various times and places, but the general consensus was that he was last seen in the town square around nine-thirty.

            That's when I last saw him, Sally thought.  So no new developments there.  "Well, did anyone see anything suspicious around here since then?"

            More shouting, but the Behemoth ran to the front of the crowd and yelled practically in Sally's ear.  "Bunny!"

            The Mayor shook his head.  "No, no, no, Behemoth.  No bunnies here."

            "Bunny!" he continued to shout, and Sally didn't think he was all that crazy.

            "Okay, where did you see the bunny?"

            The giant began to lead her towards the forest, and the rest of the town followed closely behind.


	3. Sally Hatches a Plan

Chapter 3: Sally Hatches a Plan

            When Jack opened his eye sockets he was in a very strange place.  He was surrounded by pastel colors, images of rabbits and chicks and eggs, and baskets filled with candy.  It reminded him of Christmastown in a strange way, but he knew it wasn't.

            "Well, look who's finally awake."  Jack turned around to see a big pink bunny standing, facing him.  He also discovered that he was in some sort of cage.

            "Who are you?" he asked the creature, who looked oddly familiar.

            The bunny smiled.  "My name is Peter Cottontail.  I'm the Easter Bunny, and this is Easterland.  I believe we've met before, Mr. Skellington."

            Jack thought a moment.  "Oh!  Yes, now I remember you."  He smiled sheepishly.  "Lock, Shock and Barrel accidentally kidnapped you, didn't they?  I can't apologize enough, I assure you it was all a big mistake."

            "Sure it was," said Peter, hopping closer to Jack.  "I must say, your town is very frightening."

            "Why, thank you!"

            "I did not mean it as a compliment.  Halloweentown is much too scary for my liking."

            Jack shrugged.  "Well maybe you don't appreciate a good scare."

            Peter sniffed and wiggled his nose.  "I certainly don't!  And I don't see how humans enjoy it either, being scared senseless.  Where's the fun in that?"

            "Being scared…awakens the senses," said Jack.  "It's really quite refreshing, everyone needs to be frightened every once in a while."  
            "I don't believe it.  I think that Halloween is a horrible holiday, one that could use some improvements…which is precisely why I'm taking it over."

            Jack's jaw just about fell off.

            Sally looked around uneasily as they entered the forest at the edge of Halloweentown.  "Are you sure this is where you saw the bunny?"

            The Behemoth nodded.  He wasn't really one for conversation.

            Mayor froze in his tracks.  "Look!"  He pointed at a circle of particularly large trees, all of which had strange, colorful symbols on them.  Doors.

            The crowd of townscreatures approached cautiously, looking around in awe.  They'd never been to this part of Halloweentown.

            Sally spotted a tree with an image of a Christmas tree on it and instantly knew where they were.  Jack had told her about this…the doors were portals to other holidays.

            The crowd oohed and aahed at all of the odd doors.  Mayor was less enthusiastic.

            "Nobody touch anything!"  He looked to Sally for help.  "What do we do, what do we do…"

            She honestly had no idea.  She knew nothing of giant bunnies or where they came from, all of this was rather new to her.  She couldn't think of anyone else who had actually been in this part of the forest before, except…

            "Let's get everyone back to town, Mayor, I've got an idea."  She bit her lip nervously as Mayor rounded up the crowd.  Okay, so maybe it wasn't a very good idea, but it was something…

            "Lemme get this straight," said Shock, taking another bite of her candy bar.  "You want us to help you rescue Jack?"

            Sally nodded.  Why oh why was she doing this?  She'd never been on the best of terms with the trio, especially after what happened last Christmas.  Still, it seemed like they were her only hope at this point.

            Lock stepped forward.  "Ya know, Sal, we don't normally do favors for people.  Unless you've got some incentive for us…"

            "Yeah," yelled Barrel, "What's in it for us?"

            She thought.  She didn't really have any material possessions, so she had nothing to give them, and she had very little money, but she did have access to the town's candy supply.  Surely Jack wouldn't mind, especially if she was saving him from a potentially dangerous situation.

            "All the candy you can eat."

            Barrel immediately nodded excitedly, but Shock clocked him over the head with a large sucker.

            "All the candy we can eat, huh?" Lock said with a devilish grin.  "Exactly how much are we talkin', here?"

            "As much as you want, just please, I need your help."

            Shock and Lock conferenced for a moment while Barrel chased some bugs.  Sally never talked to them, so she must be pretty desperate, which meant that Jack could be in real trouble…  And if they rescued him, that would make them heroes!  Which would surely mean higher status in the town, more candy, maybe even trick-or-treating rights from Jack.  How could they lose?

            Shock nodded and shook Sally's hand.  "Deal."

            Sally also nodded and smiled nervously.  "Great.  So…  Do you three know anything about a bunny?"

            It was nearly midnight in Halloweentown by this time.  Lock, Shock, Barrel and Sally set off for the forest with a plan—they were going to find this bunny, which Lock said was in a place called 'Easterland,' ask him where Jack was and then, hopefully, rescue the Pumpkin King.  They walked along side the bathtub, which was filled to the rim with weapons, bags, masks, and of course lots of junk food.

            Sally frowned.  "Why do we need all of this?"

            "Just in case," replied Shock.

            When the odd quartet finally entered the circle of trees there was a bit of argument as to which door it was that they had found the bunny in.

            "It's that one, I just know it!" said Lock, pointing to the door with a big red heart.

            "No, you dimwit, I remember it perfectly, it was that one!"  Shock pointed to a green shamrock.

            Barrel shook his head.  "That one."  He pointed to a turkey.

            Sally sighed as the three continued quarreling.  This was a horrible, horrible idea.  Then out of the corner of her eye she saw a shadow running, and heard a slam.  Someone had just shut a door shaped like an egg that was decorated in the ugliest, most gaudy colors she had ever seen.  And now they were in Halloweentown.  That seemed more than a little suspicious.

            "It's that door," said Sally, pointing to it.

            Lock, Shock and Barrel all nodded.  "That's what we said."

            Sally rolled her eyes and carefully opened the door.  "Now what?"

            Lock smiled.  "Ladies first."  And he pushed her in.


	4. Peter's Proposition

Chapter 4: Peter's Proposition

            Jack did not like this kidnapping business one bit.  No wonder Sandy Claws was so angry with me, he thought.  Since his unconscious arrival in Easterland Jack had been moved from the cage (which turned out to be a chicken coop) to Easterland's town hall, a large egg-shaped building.  Then Peter had locked him in a small storage closet, where Jack was currently residing.  He sat on the floor, looking around him.  Chocolate rabbits, egg dye…  And a door that would not open, he'd been working on it for a while.  Peter must have barricaded it or something.  The only way he was getting out was if someone would let him out, and Jack seriously doubted that was going to happen.  Frustrated, he began banging his skull against the wall he was leaning on—a little too hard, evidentially, since the containers of egg dye came tumbling down on him.

            "AH!"

            Sally was also screaming as she landed in a large patch of green stuff, surrounded by flowers.  Three more screams, and Lock, Shock, Barrel and bathtub came falling from the sky as well.

            Barrel crawled over to her.  "Are you okay, Sally?"

            She stood up and brushed herself off.  "Yeah, I think so…  No thanks to you."  She glared at Lock.

            "What?" Lock smiled and shrugged innocently.

            Shock looked around slowly.  "Man, this place is uglier than I remember it."

            "Peep…peep…"

            Barrel's eyes grew wide as he turned around.  "What is that?"

            The others also turned around.  On the ground sat a tiny, fluffy yellow thing that was peeping endlessly at them.  A chick.

            "It's kind of cute," said Sally as she knelt down to get a better look at it.

            "Peep peep peep peep peep peep peep…"

            Shock let out a shriek.  "Ohmigod Sally, RUN!"

            About three-dozen other chicks were charging the Halloween folk, who took off screaming down to the town.

            It was now four in the morning in Halloweentown and the pumpkin sun was beginning to rise.  Peter Cottontail stepped into the town square, sniffing the air.  Where was everyone?

            As it turned out, they were all in the town hall.  Mayor had called an emergency meeting to discuss what they were going to do about Halloween with Jack Skellington missing.

            He shook his head sadly.  "I'm afraid that if Jack doesn't show up soon we might have to cancel Halloween this year."

            An angry roar came up from the crowd.  They couldn't cancel Halloween!  In all of the hundreds of years of the holiday they had never missed a single one.

            "This is all Jack's fault!" screamed the Clown with the Tearaway Face.

            Mayor held up a hand defensively.  "No, don't say that!  It's not his fault at all!  Do you really think that he would abandon us like this?"

            A moment of silence as the angry mob thought about Mayor's point.  Sure, Jack wasn't like the rest of them.  He had liked that Christmas business after all.  But he'd always been a good king, one that cared about his subjects and never let them down.  He wouldn't do this on purpose.

            As an intense sense of worry began to creep over the citizens the doors suddenly burst open and a large pink rabbit hopped up to the stage, pushing Mayor aside.

            "Bunny!" yelled the Behemoth.

            The other creatures also began to yell.  Who was this ugly thing and why was he interrupting their meeting?

            "You will have a Halloween this year," said Peter, who had been listening from outside.  "My name is Peter Cottontail, and I'm the Easter Bunny.  I can't tell you how sorry I am that your king just abandoned you like this."

            "But he—ACK." Mayor was swiftly kicked in the face by a large pink hind leg.

            "Good citizens of Halloween, I will run the holiday this year.  I feel that I can offer you vast improvements over that Skellington fellow.  Now, if you'll all give me your attention please, we can pull this together by tonight."

            Everyone looked at each other and whispered about the strange visitor.  It just might be their only chance.  The Harlequin Demon stood up and nodded at Peter, giving him the go-ahead.

            Peter smiled.  "Fantastic.  First, let's talk about this scaring business…"

            Soon the chicks had chased Lock, Shock, Barrel and Sally (and, yes, the bathtub, too) into the middle of Easterland's town square.  The citizens of Easter quietly approached the frightening-looking intruders.  There were yet even more chicks, ducks, girls wearing Easter bonnets, boys carrying baskets, even eggs with feet.

            A duck was the first one to speak.  "Who are you?"

            "We're from Halloweentown," said Sally.

            A hush spread over the colorfully dressed crowd.  They'd heard of the town before…

            "Okay, everyone, no need to panic, I'll take care of this." A short, round rabbit pushed his way to the front of the crowd.  "I'm the mayor of Easterland.  What seems to be the problem?"

            Sally smiled, relieved.  This guy had to know something.  "We're from Halloween, and we were wondering if we could speak with your king."

            "King?  We have no king." The mayor looked at the strange doll and little demons suspiciously.

            Lock stepped forward.  "We're lookin' for a big pink bunny.  You seen him?"

            The mayor thought a moment.  "I assume you're speaking of Peter.  He's our leader.  He actually left a couple hours ago to go to Halloweentown."

            So that's who Sally had seen in the forest!  If the rabbit was in Halloween, did that mean that Jack was here?

            Suddenly a voice rose from the crowd.  "Those are them!  Those are the three that kidnapped Peter!"

            Lock, Shock and Barrel looked at each other.  Busted.

            "Throw them in the coop!"

            "The coop!  The coop!"


	5. Making Halloween

Chapter 5: Making Halloween

            "I think that Halloween is much too scary," said Peter.

            The crowd stared at him blankly.  Halloween was supposed to be scary, didn't he know that?

            "What I mean is, I don't think that all of this frightening stuff is what people want.  I think that humans would be much happier if Halloween was a little more, say, like Easter."

            Mr. Hyde frowned.  "But they're not supposed to be happy.  They're supposed to be scared, that's the whole point."

            Peter shook his head.  "No, no, no.  You want to spread joy, and cheer."

            The citizens of Halloween were getting very confused, and this Easter business was starting to sound a little too much like Christmas.

            "Now I've brought all of the necessary supplies, so let's get started right away.  Who would like to be in charge of painting the pumpkins?"

            No one raised their hand.

            "Well then, I guess I'll just have to assign jobs."

            The trio of trick-or-treaters tried to run, but they were quickly scooped up by two large brutish rabbits and thrown in the coop that Jack had been in.

            "Hey, no fair!" screamed Shock.  "We didn't mean to kidnap him!"

            Lock nodded.  "It was all a big mistake!"

            Barrel was too busy salivating over the pile of chocolate bunnies sitting outside the coop to argue.

            Sally frowned.  "They didn't do anything to you, and they're actually telling the truth.  It was a mistake."

            One of the large rabbits looked at her.  "Hey, Mayor, what should we do with this one?"

            The mayor shrugged.  "There's not enough room in the coop.  Why don't you just put her with the other one."

            "Huh?  What other one?" yelled Sally as she was drug off towards an egg-shaped building

            Peter had come to Halloweentown very well prepared.  He'd been planning this takeover for quite some time, evidentially.

            "At least he's got organizational skills," grumbled Mayor as he painted a pumpkin with pastel colors.

            In another area the Corpse family, Harlequin Demon, Mr. Hyde and Melt Man were stuffing wicker baskets with candy.  That had been the only thing Peter didn't want to change.  As a matter of fact, Peter rather liked the idea of complete strangers giving each other candy.

            He'd ordered everyone that was going out in the mortal world to wear strangely colored, frilly bonnets and carry the baskets while passing out candy.  Peter was currently trying to fit the Behemoth with a bonnet, but it was rather hard with the ax sticking out of the poor man's head.

            Everyone went about their work silently.  They didn't like this at all, but it seemed like the only way they were going to have a Halloween this year.

            "Ah ha!  Done!" Peter stepped back to admire his handiwork.  He'd had to cut a few holes in the hat, but it looked darn good.  He pulled the Behemoth over to a mirror.  "What do you think?"

            The Behemoth smiled.  "Pretty."

            "Mr. Cottontail, I really don't understand what you want me to do here."  Dr. Finklestein's wheelchair slowly rolled towards the giant rabbit.

            Peter went through his blueprints again.  "You see, this is a chicken.  It lays eggs.  I need twenty chickens as soon as possible."

            "Yes, I know that, but it would take me weeks to make that many birds.  My goodness, you're even crazier than Jack was…"

            Mr. Corpse ran over in a panic.  "Peter, come quick!  There's been an accident!"

            Peter groaned.  What was it now?  He walked over to the basket-making area and discovered that Melt Man had gotten into the Easter grass.

            "Let me go!" Sally kicked and struggled but couldn't free herself.  They'd grabbed onto both of her arms so it was pretty impossible to escape.

            The rabbits and their prisoner entered the town hall, where a bizarre sight quickly caught their eyes.  A door at the other end of the room had been barricaded with benches, tables, chairs…basically all of the furniture in the room.

            "Great," said one of the rabbits.  "You hold her, I'll try to get to the door."

            "What on earth is in there?" asked the other as he grabbed onto Sally's other arm.

            Exactly what I was wondering, she thought.  It couldn't be, could it?

            Sure enough, when the door was opened, there was Jack, sitting on the floor resting his skull in his hands.  He looked up to see what was going on.

            The rabbits stifled a laugh.  The egg dye had turned Jack's skull, shirt and hands many colors.

            Now's my chance, thought Jack, but just as he was about to make a run for it the other captive was shoved into the closet and the door quickly shut.  The lighting was dim, but Jack could still tell who it was.

            "Sally!  How did you get here?"

            "Jack!" She threw herself into his arms.  "My God, you're okay, I was so worried that something terrible had happened."

            Outside they could hear the rabbits putting all of the furniture back in front of the door.

            Sally sighed.  "So now what?"

            He kissed her on the top of the head.  "It'll be okay, we'll get out of here somehow."  He smiled as he ran his fingers through her hair.  "Although I'm not in all that much of a hurry now…"

            Sally laughed as he pulled her to the floor.


	6. The Great Escape

Chapter 6: The Great Escape

            "Okay, great work everyone, let's break for lunch now."  Peter smiled as he looked over all that they're accomplished.

            The citizens of Halloween were exhausted.  It was almost noon, and they'd spent all morning working on the holiday's makeover.  The lunch break was the first idea of Peter's that they actually liked, as everyone eagerly fled Town Square to return to their homes.

            "Be back in half an hour, folks!" said Peter.  "We've still got a lot of work to do!"

            The mood in the storage closet had quickly shifted from playful to worried.  Jack had told Sally all about what happened in the graveyard, and what Peter had said about taking over Halloween.  Sally told him about her plan, and Peter's visit to Halloweentown.

            Jack frowned.  "He's going to try to take over my holiday, I just know it."  He stood up and began pacing back and forth in the closet, only about two steps for him.  "And we can't get out because they put all of that stuff in front of the door."

            Sally nodded sadly.  "Is there any way you could try to push it open?"

            "I tried that."  He sat back down and rested his skull on top of her head.  "I suppose our only chance now is Lock, Shock and Barrel."  He laughed a little dejectedly.

            All of the Easter townspeople had gone off to eat lunch, leaving the trio all alone in the middle of Easterland in their cage.  They were trying desperately to escape.

            Shock was getting very impatient.  "You two are such idiots!  You can't even escape from a chicken coop!"

            "Well I don't see you trying to help," said Barrel angrily.

            Lock thought a moment.  "Did we bring wire cutters with us?"

            "Yeah, probably, we brought a lot of stuff," said Shock, who was now trying to bite through the metal with her teeth.  "Wait a sec…wire cutters, Lock, you're a genius!"

            "Did you just give me a compliment?" he said with a wicked smile.

            Shock scowled.  "Well I didn't mean it."

            Barrel whistled and the bathtub obediently trotted over.  He tried to grab their bag of stuff but his arms were too short.  "Help, someone...I think I'm stuck now."

            "Oh, you are an idiot," said Lock as he helped Barrel remove himself from the wire.

            Shock stuck her arm through a larger hole and was able to grab onto the bag.  "Okay, I've got it."  She tried to pull it through but it was too big, and everything that was in it fell to the ground.  Sure enough, there was a pair of wire cutters, and it had fallen just out of arm's reach…and was picked up by a furry paw on the other side of the cage.

            "And just what do you three think you're doing?"  It was the mayor of Easterland.

            "Um, uh…" Lock stammered.  Then he smiled when he noticed the bathtub slowly approaching the mayor.  "Nothing.  Why do you ask?"

            The mayor shook his head.  "Can't leave you alone for a minute, can I?  Well I suppose I'll just have to AH!"

            The bathtub rammed into the large rabbit's backside, sending him face-first into the ground, and sending the wire cutters flying out of his hand and into Lock's.

            Lock quickly cut himself and his cohorts out of the coop and leapt into the bathtub, which took off at an amazing speed considering that it was a large piece of plumbing.

            The mayor got up just in time to see them escaping.  "Oh, Peter is not going to be happy about this…"

            Lock, Shock and Barrel laughed as they looked back.

            "Alright, that was great, now let's get back to Halloweentown."  Shock gave the bathtub a little kick and it began heading for the forest.

            "WAIT!" screeched Barrel.  "Aren't we forgetting something?" 

            "It goes something like this."  Peter did a strange little hopping dance as the citizens of Halloween looked on in mild amusement.  "Okay.  Now you try."

            He'd lined all of them up in a feeble attempt to teach them "Easterland's official dance," also known as the Bunny Hop.  The once-frightening group now looked rather comical in their Easter bonnets, hopping around mindlessly.

            Peter shook his head.  "No, you're doing it all wrong!  Can't you do anything right?!"

            Mayor was on the verge of an emotional breakdown.  They couldn't do anything right…not without Jack, at least.  The town was completely dependent upon the king—he was the brains behind the entire operation!  Where on earth could he be?

            Lock, Shock and Barrel snuck around Easterland silently so they wouldn't be caught again.  By this time the entire population of the town was out looking for them.  It made it more exciting of course, but also more difficult.

            Barrel was trying to keep up with the other two, but his short legs made it a little hard.  "Hey guys, wait up!"

            "Barrel shut up!" said Shock in an angry whisper.  "Do you want to get caught?"

            "No, but-"

            Lock gasped.  The two large rabbits that had caught them the first time were gaining on them now.  "Run!"

            His shout attracted the attention of the rabbits, which quickly hopped after them.  They caught up in no time, and soon the trio was trapped.

            Shock was panting for breath.  "Okay, genius, what now?"  She looked at Lock.

            "Hey, look!" Barrel shouted suddenly.  The rabbits turned around to see what he was so excited about and the three were able to run past them with no trouble.

            "That was too easy," laughed Lock as they ran for the nearest building, which happened to be the town hall.


	7. Lock Shock and Barrel to the Rescue!

Chapter 7: Lock, Shock and Barrel to the Rescue

            It was nearing two 'o clock in the land of Halloween, and the pumpkin sun was started to move ever so slowly towards the horizon.  Soon it would set, and when the sun goes down the citizens of the town enact their holiday upon the world.  Normally at this point in time everyone would be celebrating…but instead they were dreading Halloween night.

            "Not much time left," said one of the witches, looking up anxiously at the clock on town hall.

            Wolfgang nodded.  "Jack had better get here soon."

            Peter was oblivious to their dismay.  He hopped here and there, checking on the progress of everything and even fixing some of the details himself.  Oh, the humans are going to love this! He thought to himself with a big smile.  This would truly be a Halloween to remember.

            "Whew, that was close," said Lock, now safely hidden in the town hall.

            "Yeah, lucky for you the people in Easterland are nice and stupid," said Shock.  Then she noticed something weird—that door, across the room…

            The three approached slowly.  It had been blocked very thoroughly with many large pieces of furniture.  It seemed that the citizens of Easter did not want whatever was in there running around their town.  The trick-or-treaters' curiosity was now piqued and they climbed over one another trying to get to the door.  In no time at all the barricade had been cleared and Barrel hurriedly opened the door.

            Jack and Sally were sitting on the floor, leaning against each other, but at the sound of the doorknob being turned their necks quickly snapped to see who it was.

            "We found them!" Shock screamed excitedly.

            Jack leapt to his feet.  He never thought he'd be so happy to see those three.

            Lock laughed.  "My, Jack, you're looking rather colorful.  How long were you guys in there?"

            Sally slowly stood up.  "Too long."

            "So, you guys have been in there all this time?  Alone?" Shock smiled mischievously at the two.

            Jack frowned but let the comment slip.  "We've got to get back to Halloweentown fast, Peter's taking over Halloween."

            Then they heard a voice outside.  It boomed, as though someone was speaking into a megaphone.

            "This is the mayor of Easterland.  We know you three are in there.  Come out with your hands up."

            "What did you do now?" said Jack, shaking his head in disgust.  Some things never changed.

            "We didn't do anything, honest," said Barrel.  "We escaped and then we went looking for you."

            Lock nodded.  "Yeah, what he said.  These people are crazy!"

            Jack was already heading for the door.  These are rabbits, he thought.  I can surely handle them.

            The people of Easterland waited outside eagerly for the three little kids with the funny faces to appear, but when the door opened Jack was standing there instead.

            Screams arose from the crowd as it scattered quickly.  Well, that wasn't too hard, thought Jack.  The mayor of Easterland stood, shaking, looking up at him.

            "How…how did you get out?"

            Lock, Shock and Barrel quickly appeared behind Jack.

            "Oh."

            Jack leaned down to talk to the rabbit, which was growing more and more nervous.  "Listen, Peter's trying to take over Halloween.  We've got to get back to try and stop him."

            The mayor looked shocked.  "What?  Peter would never try to do such a thing!  Has he gone mad?"

            "Probably," said Lock, but Sally quickly gave him a disapproving look.

            "Is he going to be okay?"

            "I don't know, that's why we've got to get back as soon as possible," said Jack.

            "Yes, fine," said the mayor.  "Get out of here, all of you, just as long as we get Mr. Cottontail back in one piece."

            Jack smiled reassuringly.  "You will."

            "Oh, and don't forget your bathtub."

            Lock, Shock and Barrel said "thanks" in unison as they jumped into it and then they were all off to the forest.  They didn't have much time at all.

            Time almost seemed to be speeding up in Halloweentown as the air became colder and a breeze played with the leaves lying in the street.  Everyone stood around Town Square idly, counting the minutes until the celebration was scheduled to begin.  They wouldn't be able to scare anyone this year, which was one of Peter's new rules.  But scaring was what they did best, they'd told him, but he'd have no part of that.  Instead he continued to speak of happiness and bringing joy to the masses.

            "I don't think Jack's going to make it," said Wolfgang sadly.

            The others remained silent.  It was something they hadn't wanted to admit, but now it seemed like a reality.

            Peter stood on the steps of the Town Hall watching them.  Why did they seem so upset?  Oh, he knew that they wanted to scare people, but face it, scaring is just not nice.  He'd asked them several times to show some enthusiasm about the wonderful things they did get to do—hand out candy, sing "Here Comes Peter Cottontail," dance the bunny hop—but they just didn't seem to care.

            Oh well, he thought.  I can do this without them if I have to.  Peter, this is going to be your night to shine!


	8. Jack's Return

Chapter 8: Jack's Return

            Jack walked quickly through the forest until he reached the graveyard.  He paused for a moment to let the others catch up, then threw open the iron gate that led down to the town.

            The creaking of the old metal attracted the attention of several Halloweentown residents.

            "What was that?" One of the vampires turned around in time to see a tall, stick-thin figure coming towards them.

            "Jack!" exclaimed the corpse child, who leapt out of his mother's arms to go greet him.  The rest of the town also surged forward.

            Peter was surprised by the sudden commotion.  "Huh?  What's going on?"  Then he saw the source of the excitement.  "Uh-oh."

            Jack also saw Peter as he tried to hide.  He tried to get to the rabbit but the crazed mob of creatures was currently making it a little difficult to move.  They'd never been so happy to see Jack!  Well, except for Christmas…  But now he was back!  Again!  Just in time to save Halloween, as the pumpkin sun set in the distance.

            And no one was happier about it than Mayor.  "Jack!  Where have you been?  We've been worried sick about you!  Then this bunny came and he made us paint all of the pumpkins and wear these bonnets…" He paused to take off his bonnet and put his usual hat on.  "But now you're back!  This is fantastic!"

            Jack smiled.  "Yes, just in time, it seems."  He narrowed his eye sockets as he looked at the large pink creature that was trying to escape.  "Would you give me a moment?"

            "Oh yes Jack, of course."  Mayor began shooing others away as he tried to leave the mob.

            "Peter," said Jack in a commanding tone.

            The rabbit froze.  He turned his head back to see who it was, though he already knew.  "Yes?"

            "Peter, let me talk to you for a moment."  He pulled the rabbit aside.

            Peter's eyes were bugging out of his head and his whiskers twitched nervously.  He didn't trust this Skellington fellow one bit.

            Jack sensed his worry.  "It's okay, I'm not angry.  As a matter of fact, I sympathize with you.  I know where you're coming from."

            The rabbit sniffed.  "That's not true, you're just trying to make me feel better now."

            "No, I'm completely serious.  I took over Christmas."

            Peter looked confused.  "What's Christmas?"

            "It's another holiday.  I stumbled into Christmastown by accident, and I wanted to bring Christmas to Halloweentown.  We prepared for months, kidnapped their leader, I even delivered presents!"  Jack cracked a smile at the memory.  "And the whole time I thought I was making everyone happy.  But of course I wasn't, and the whole thing almost turned into a terrible tragedy.  Mr. Cottontail, I know you think that you're just giving people what they want, but when October 31st comes around they want Halloween, not Easter.  And when it comes time for your holiday I'm sure they want Easter and not Halloween.  There's a delicate balance in the holidays, and when someone tries to change it, everything gets messed up."

            Peter looked at Jack.  He didn't seem as frightening anymore, and he was making a tremendous lot of sense.  Peter knew how hard it was running a holiday, and if someone ever tried to change Easter…  He hung his head sadly.  "I'm so sorry, Jack.  I didn't want to cause any trouble, I thought I was helping.  Halloween really is awfully scary.

            Jack laughed.  "Well that means I'm doing my job right.  Now you've got to get back to Easterland, and I've got a holiday to fix."

            The town of Halloween bid Peter farewell and then went straight to work.  In less that one hour, and of course under Jack's careful supervision, the Easter Bunny's work was almost entirely reversed.

            "Wonderful!" said Mayor, looking over everything.  "This really is going to be a wonderful Halloween, Jack."

            "One to remember," the Pumpkin King said with a smile.  "I think we'll head off soon."

            "Do I get to say goodbye this time?"  Sally was now standing at Jack's side.  Mayor cleared his throat casually and walked away.  He didn't like all this mushy stuff.

            Jack turned and smiled.  "Of course."  She moved closer and he wrapped his arms around her.  "Oh Sal, you know that I couldn't have done any of this without you."

            Sally sighed as she fell into his embrace.  "I was just trying to help you…I love you, Jack."

            He pulled away so that he could look into her eyes.  "And I love you.  More than anything."  It was true.  When he was with her the emptiness he'd felt for so long was entirely gone and he was complete.

            "Don't we get any recognition, Jack?"

            Lock, Shock and Barrel stood grinning up at the skeleton.

            So much for the romantic moment.  "Well…"  It pained Jack to admit this.  "Yes, you three were a big help."

            "Aw, thanks Jack," said Lock.  "So can we go out tonight?"

            "No!"  Jack was shocked.  They just didn't give up, did they?

            Sally kneeled down to talk to them.  "You can wait with me, if you'd like."

            Jack laughed.  "I can't believe it.  You four getting along?  I wasn't gone that long, was I?"

            Sally stood back up and shrugged.  "They're not so bad."

            Shock smiled.  "Thanks Sally.  But as for us hanging out with you, I think it'd ruin our image.  No offense."

            "Yeah," said Lock.  "We've got a bad reputation to uphold, ya know?  But wait…I believe you still owe us some candy."

            Barrel nodded eagerly.

            "Fine," said Sally.  She turned to Jack, who was watching the last hints of daylight disappear over the horizon.

            "Time to go," he said softly.  Time to scare an entire world of mortals, to do what he did best.  Halloween truly was his holiday.  He kissed Sally goodbye (as Lock, Shock and Barrel made gagging sounds) and then headed to the graveyard, where the crypt served as a portal to the real world.

            Sally smiled wistfully as he watched him walk off.  To think, this was only her second Halloween.  And how things had changed since the year before.  Her train of thought was interrupted by Barrel.

            "C'mon, Sal, let's get that candy."

The End


End file.
